Mile

mile
    n 1: a unit of length equal to 1,760 yards or 5,280 feet;
         exactly 1609.344 meters [syn: {mile}, {statute mile}, {stat
         mi}, {land mile}, {international mile}, {mi}]
    2: a unit of length used in navigation; exactly 1,852 meters;
       historically based on the distance spanned by one minute of
       arc in latitude [syn: {nautical mile}, {mile}, {mi}, {naut
       mi}, {knot}, {international nautical mile}, {air mile}]
    3: a large distance; "he missed by a mile"
    4: a former British unit of length once used in navigation;
       equivalent to 6,000 feet (1828.8 meters) [syn: {sea mile},
       {mile}]
    5: a former British unit of length equivalent to 6,080 feet
       (1,853.184 meters); 800 feet longer than a statute mile [syn:
       {nautical mile}, {naut mi}, {mile}, {mi}, {geographical
       mile}, {Admiralty mile}]
    6: an ancient Roman unit of length equivalent to 1620 yards
       [syn: {mile}, {Roman mile}]
    7: a Swedish unit of length equivalent to 10 km [syn: {mile},
       {mil}, {Swedish mile}]
    8: a footrace extending one mile; "he holds the record in the
       mile"
    

Mile \Mile\ (m[imac]l), n. [AS. m[imac]l, fr. L. millia, milia;
   pl. of mille a thousand, i. e., milia passuum a thousand
   paces. Cf. {Mill} the tenth of a cent, {Million}.]
   A certain measure of distance, being equivalent in England
   and the United States to 320 poles or rods, or 5,280 feet.
   [1913 Webster]

   Note: The distance called a mile varies greatly in different
         countries. Its length in yards is, in Norway, 12,182;
         in Brunswick, 11,816; in Sweden, 11,660; in Hungary,
         9,139; in Switzerland, 8,548; in Austria, 8,297; in
         Prussia, 8,238; in Poland, 8,100; in Italy, 2,025; in
         England and the United States, 1,760; in Spain, 1,552;
         in the Netherlands, 1,094.
         [1913 Webster]

   {Geographical mile} or {Nautical mile}, one sixtieth of a
      degree of a great circle of the earth, or 6080.27 feet.

   {Mile run}. Same as {Train mile}. See under {Train}.

   {Roman mile}, a thousand paces, equal to 1,614 yards English
      measure.

   {Statute mile}, a mile conforming to statute, that is, in
      England and the United States, a mile of 5,280 feet, as
      distinguished from any other mile.
      [1913 Webster]
    

Mile
(from Lat. mille, "a thousand;" Matt. 5:41), a Roman measure of
1,000 paces of 5 feet each. Thus the Roman mile has 1618 yards,
being 142 yards shorter than the English mile.
    

MILE, measure. A length of a thousand paces, or seventeen hundred and sixty 
yards, or five thousand two hundred and eighty feet. It contains eight 
furlongs, every furlong being forty poles, and each pole sixteen feet six 
inches. 2 Stark. R. 89.